Smart Accelerator for the Ústí Region III

Responsible person for ICUK: Lucie Podrápská
Founding members: Ústí Region, UJEP, ICUK, CzechInvest, Hraničář Public Hall

Job description / goal:

The goal of the EDP group is to start the development of cultural and creative industries in the Ústí Region over the next 2-3 years and to lay the foundation for the further, more targeted development of the innovation ecosystem in this RIS3 domain of the region. KKO includes activities based on human creativity, skills and talent with the potential to create wealth and jobs, especially through the use of intellectual property. These are, for example, arts and crafts, monuments, visual arts, the film industry, architecture, design, digital games or fashion. The transformational potential of KKO in the Ústí Region, similar to what has been shown abroad, will bring about the establishment and development of businesses, diversification and job creation, and the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, including self-employed individuals. A partial output is the creation and operation of the website kreativni.uk. The goal of the project is to prepare the Strategy for the Development of KKO in the Ústí Region for the period 2025–2027 by February 2025.

Responsible person for ICUK: Tereza Okurková
Members: ICUK, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, Krajská zdravotní as, Charita Litoměřice, Domov Velké Březno), research facilities, FZS and FSE UJEP, companies in the field of healthcare and IT, state and local government bodies
It meets: several times a year

Job description / goal:

The goal of the EDP Group for Innovation in Healthcare and Social Services (eHealth) for the Ústí Region as part of the development of the RIS3 strategy is to support digitization and innovative technology-oriented approaches and processes in healthcare and social services, and hand in hand with this to deepen and connect cooperation between academia, business and the public sector, stimulate the exchange of good practice, inspiration and discussion with the aim of supporting interesting topics or concluding agreements on specific cooperation. As part of the coordination of the activities of the platform for digitization of healthcare and social services, ICUK is a member of the international Reference Site Collaborative Network and thus supports the identification and development of the above-mentioned activities of the EDP group in the field of prevention, active and healthy aging, digitization and new technologies.

Responsible person for ICUK: Lucie Dohnalová, expert for DigiLab (representation for digitization)
Members: 31 entities from the application sphere, among others (COM PLUS cz as DYNAMIC FUTURE s.r.o., Evolution design, s.r.o., FCC industrial systems s.r.o., Foxily s.r.o., T-mobile as,) the public sphere (among others DCUK, ICUK, Aignos, Regional Development Agency , Association for Applied Research in IT, zs) and the academic sphere (CTU Děčín workplace (FD, FJFI), CIIRC; UJEP (faculties of PřF, FSI, FSE).
It meets: several times a year

Job description / goal:

The goal of the EDP group for 2023 was, among other things, to start the implementation of the European Center for Digital Innovation (EDIH CTU) project, primarily focused on supporting the implementation of AI and robotics in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, which was supported by the Digital Europe program, where ICUK is part of the project consortium and international project GREENE 4.0 focusing on the use of digital technologies for green production. The collaborative platform of 25 subjects from the Ústí Region for digitization, called ICUK Digital Innovation Hub (ICUK DIH), which provides services mainly to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises, can be seen as another success.

Projects being prepared in the coming years include the SeEDScomp project prepared in cooperation with the Centouris Institute of the University of Passau, focusing on the topic of digital servitization in enterprises falling under NACE 26-28, the COEUS project prepared in cooperation with DIH Slovenia, the main topic of which is "Corporate digital responsibility", i.e. the responsible use of digital technologies in enterprises and the NET4DIGI project, the desired result of which is a B2B collaborative network and platform for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and startups with a focus on the digitization of industry, or support of digital transformation. The idea of the project came from suggestions from partner companies of ICUK DIH.

Responsible person for ICUK: Klára Rothe, RIS3 developer
Members: Association of Nanotechnology Industry of the Czech Republic and representatives of FŽP and PřF UJEP, CENAB, nanotechnology companies of the Ústí Region, CTU and other universities
It meets: 2 times a year

Job scope / goal:

The goal of the EDP group is explore and use the benefits of nanotechnology in the field of environmental protection, sustainable development and efficient use of resources. It deals with research, development and applications of nanomaterials and nanotechnology with an emphasis on environmental design and planning with the aim of achieving complex and innovative solutions for current environmental challenges.

Responsible person for ICUK: Marek Hart, RIS3 Developer
Members: Economic and Social Council of the Ústí Region (HSR), among the research institutes is the Institute of Nuclear Research Řež, a.s. (ÚJV Řež), FSI UJEP, University Center Litvínov VŠCHT – FS ČVUT – ORLEN Unipetrol, ČVUT, from companies: Sev.en Česká Group energy, the Innovation Center of the Ústí Region (ICUK) and the Energy Center of the Ústí Region (ECUK)
It meets: 1 time per year

Job scope / goal:

The EDP group "Energy" for the Ústí Region solves the issue of significant regional changes as a result of nationwide efforts to decarbonize the economy and meet climate and energy goals by 2030. Known for its coal mining and coal-fired power generation, the region faces both opportunities and challenges in transitioning to more sustainable energy production.With gradual decarbonization, dependence on coal is expected to decrease and alternative energy sources will be developed, including renewables and nuclear energy, solar and wind power, development of the hydrogen economy – investments in the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen as a clean fuel for industry, transport and energy production, and energy saving, i.e. reducing the energy demand of the region, e.g. renovation of buildings. The goal of the EDP group is therefore not only to supply energy efficiently, but also to support sustainable development, innovation and social responsibility in the energy sector.

Responsible person for ICUK: Karel Tichý, RIS3 developer
Members: Research and educational center ORLEN UniCRE, a.s., Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of the Environment and Faculty of Natural Sciences UJEP, Czech Technical University in Děčín (Faculty of Transport) and University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Hydrogen Technology Platform (HYTEP), Institute of Nuclear Research Řež, a.s.
It meets: several times a year

Job scope / goal:

The aim of the group is to focus primarily on consultation and information support related to the solution of activities and specific development plans in the area of the developing hydrogen economy in the Ústí Region. Among other things, the goal for 2023 was to develop the technological readiness and commercial availability of fuel cell and hydrogen technology applications with institutions at the national level, to solve insufficient access to information and expertise in the field of hydrogen, to present the activities of the developing hydrogen economy in the Ústí Region at meetings at European level - including presenting opportunities for the development of cooperation within the Regional Pillar Hydrogen Europe and the S3 Hydrogen Partnership and being an active participant in the creation of EU policy in the field of hydrogen.

Responsible person for ICUK:
Lukáš Eršil, RIS3 developer for Smart Region

Members: (as of 2023) ICUK, DCÚK, ECÚK, UJEP FSE, representatives from the cities and municipalities of the Ústí Region and private companies dealing with Smart City elements or 5G networks.  

It meets: several times a year

Job scope / goal:

The EDP group "Smart city" for the Ústí Region addresses the issue of the development of Smart City initiatives with the aim of using modern technology to improve the quality of life in the region. Its main goals are the integration of various systems and services into the smart infrastructure of cities, i.e. efficient use of energy, improvement of mobility, increase of safety, support of sustainability and improvement of the overall quality of life of residents. For 2023, topics and issues in the field of digitization, such as smart transport and its potential for the introduction of smart elements in public transport, became the specific goal and therefore the discussed topics of individual transformational activities of the EDP Group for the year 2023; lorawan networks communicating with IoT sensors; energy perceived from the point of view of the level of energy management in the city and the search for project opportunities "tailored" to the given city.